[Marxism] Million Worker March: Time to launch independent class struggle, break traditional ties to the Democrats

["DHE" <cuibono@xxxxxxxx>]

NOTE from re-poster: While I have many differences with the WWP, I find I'm
in full accord with this statement.  Doubtless it's appeared here before
(?), but just to be sure,  here it is "otra vez":
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Labor rally kicks off organizing,
Million Worker March set for October

Special to Workers World, June 10 2004
San Francisco

Can labor organize an independent mass mobilization to address the broad
range of problems facing the multinational working class here? Though many
hurdles need to be overcome, the answer being given is a resounding "Yes!"

On Feb. 26, Local 10 of the Inter na tional Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU) in San Francisco proposed a bold initiative: a Million Worker March
on Washington. This plucky union is well-known nationally for its leading
role in class warfare and in struggles against U.S. imperialist wars. The
leaders have educated, organized and defended their rank and file in a
period of unprecedented hostility from Washington and Wall Street.

The local union passed a resolution that the call be forwarded to "unions,
labor councils and labor organizations, as well as other organizations to
which workers belong whether organized or not, so they can take similar
action to organize this march as soon as possible." At a kickoff rally here
on May 22, they set the date for the march: Oct. 16.

The May 22 rally sent a strong message that it was time to take the road of
independent class struggle and break labor's traditional ties to the
Democratic Party. Clarence Thomas, an executive board mem ber of ILWU Local
10 and a nationally known African-American trade union leader, issued an
appeal to support the Million Worker March: "This is a Call to working
people to unite and mobilize around our own agenda. For the past decade we
have been subject to an unrestrained corporate assault. This is the moment,
this is the time for us to advance our own demands, our own needs and to
proclaim a political agenda in our own vital interests." He and Trent
Willis, another member of Local 10 ILWU, chaired the rally.

Thomas recently returned from a fact-finding contact with Iraqi workers and
unions who are besieged under the brutal U.S. military occupation. He
attacked the occupation and appealed to the U.S. labor movement to support
these sisters and brothers.

The rally of around 250 participants represented a diverse group, primarily
trade union leaders from many parts of the country. From New York, Brenda
Stokely--a leader in AFSCME District 1707, a nationally known
African-American woman and a strong opponent of the Iraq war--gave a
passionate and uplifting talk.

Chris Silvera, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island
City, N.Y., and chairperson of the Teamsters' National Black Caucus,
reflected the sentiment of the rally. "Now you can sit around and wait for
Kerry to do something. But we are going to Washington to shake the house. We
need to take back our country, take back our rights and rip up the Patriot
Act."

Among the many speakers was Walter Johnson, secretary treasurer of the San
Francisco Central Labor Council. The base of support for the project so far
is the West Coast labor movement, including undocumented representatives
such as the San Francisco Day Laborer Program, community organizations and
anti-war representatives.

Individual endorsers included long-time fighters for civil rights and in the
anti-war struggle like Dick Gregory, Danny Glover and Casey Kasem. Orga
nizers from Baltimore, St. Louis, Los Angeles, New York, Charleston, S.C.,
Cleve land and seven other cities agreed to set up centers to build the
march.

The labor councils of Charleston, S.C., and five other cities around the
country endorsed the proposal.

A call to the rank and file

This call comes at a most opportune time. It is an appeal to the rank and
file, to the disfranchised, the oppressed who labor in the fields, the
factories, the mines and the offices. It is a reminder that they have a
collective power, a power in numbers that can resist the relentless assault
on their living conditions.

It is a call to action against the banks and bosses, led by President George
W. Bush, who has written off the workers, organized and unorganized.

The Wall Street Journal had gloated on Jan. 23 that "Membership has been in
decline since the Reagan years, but the latest report shows a more dramatic
fall than usual ... Unions don't seem to have the allure that they once did,
especially for younger workers ... All of which must depress John Sweeney
who took over the AFL-CIO some years ago promising organizing ... [The]
shrinking labor movement has lost clout in the real economy."

The gloating is generated by the overall growth of profits resulting from
layoffs, downsizing of wages and benefits, privatizing and outsourcing,
which continue unabated without significant resistance. For 1,488 companies
tracked by Dow Jones & Co., net income in the first quarter was $159.2
billion, up 23 percent from the first quarter of 2003. (Wall Street Journal,
May 28)

These corporate profits are achieved on the backs of the workers, especially
through increased productivity, two-tier concessionary contracts and reduced
wages and benefits. In the race to the bottom that generates these huge
profits, the top leaders of the official labor movement have so far shown
neither an independent policy nor a strategy of action to rescue the
besieged sisters and brothers.

Workers restless over reliance on Democrats

The failure of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and his executive board to
mobilize the rank and file to fight for a substantial piece of the
exorbitant profits has set a bad example for both the organized and
unorganized, who are searching for a way out of the many horrors deluging
them.

The Sweeney leadership is tied to the program of the Democratic Party and
Sen. John Kerry. However, there is growing concern among the rank and
file--who are still supporting the AFL-CIO's "anybody but Bush" pro-Kerry
campaign--that it ignores their issues and concerns. Swee ney has shown no
inclination to criticize Kerry or demand that he represent labor's needs.

Recently, Kerry failed to show up for a critical Senate vote on the
extension of unemployment benefits, a life-and-death issue for the millions
who have exhausted them. It needed 60 votes to pass. The amend ment failed
by one vote. Kerry knew it would be close but decided it was more important
to continue on the campaign trail, posturing as the champion of the people
and lauding the virtues of his differences with Bush.

The Democratic Party is nothing more than a "loyal opposition" to the
self-serving, openly pro-big-business Republican Party. The election
campaigns of the two capitalist parties show an interest only in getting
votes, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to outdo each other and
bedazzle the people with ads, television commercials and monopolized media
expo sure. Neither candidate can solve the crisis of imperialist wars for
markets and profits or the relentless drive to exploit the workers and
oppressed here.

Once again, the workers and the oppres sed face the choice of a lesser of
two evils.

In the United States today over 13 million workers, coming from many
different nationalities, are organized into 66 affiliated unions. They are
primarily low-paid and service-oriented. Many are women. There are
differences among the AFL-CIO officials on a number of issues. Can this
immense rank and file pressure the more progressive wing of the leadership
to support the Million Worker March on Washington?

The May 22 kickoff rally here ended with a Mission Statement: "Why will we
be marching on Washington? Only our own independent mobilization of working
people across America can open the way to addressing our needs and our
agenda."

History has confirmed over and over again that all profound social, economic
and political change starts from below. The Million Worker March on Washing
ton is a beginning--a significant step in building a movement of
multinational workers and oppressed nationalities in a classwide,
independent struggle that can generate a genuine, anti-capitalist fightback.


Reprinted from the June 10, 2004, issue of Workers World newspaper
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and
distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed.



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